Ten Thousand Hours Later
Ten thousand hours later…
Ola Onabule was invited to perform at a wedding some years ago. He describes the experience as something akin to an MI5 operation.
He received a phone call asking him if he’d perform but questions about the bride, groom, venue and other arrangements were blanked. Apart from agreeing to perform on a specific date, Ola knew nothing about the gig.
But he soon started picking up clues in the press – a well-known and much publicised couple, getting married in Ireland, suggested dates that matched the one he’d been given. It was, in fact, the wedding of the Beckhams.
“Apparently David is a soul fan and sent out eyes and ears to find an act for the occasion. His spies tracked me down,” laughs Ola.
Ola’s stunning four-octave range voices has shared stages with stars all over the world but recognition in the UK, where he was born the eldest of six to Nigerian parents, didn’t come easy. In some respects he has found the rest of the world easier to conquer than his own back yard.
So does Ola consider himself to be the best kept secret in UK music?
“Not really,” he says, “I have an enormous following all over the world. I do around 100 live performances a year in front of music lovers – it doesn’t really matter what nationality they are or where the venue is. My first love is to perform my music and be appreciated.”
Success, we are often reminded, doesn’t come easily, and it’s often a clichéd long and lonely road to the top. To get there requires real perseverance and self belief. Ola has that in abundance.
Born in London, he spent some of his childhood in Nigeria. Back in the UK, he formed a band in his mid-teens, went to law school and dropped out, enrolled in art college, taught himself to play the guitar, joined every band on the campus, learned to sing everything from funk to folk, and then started writing his own material and performing solo.
He combines the influences of soul, jazz and West African music. They are brought together in subtle and sophisticated melodies and time signatures. He documents the issues of the day with the universal subjects of love and loss.
“It’s said that you need to put in 10,000 hours of devotion before you understand your craft,” he muses. “My father took me to a James Brown concert when I was a teenager – the clock started then.”
After collaborating with other musicians in the early 90s Ola’s material caught the ear of Elektra. He signed up but soon became disillusioned and frustrated and the deal ended a year later.
Ola then spent a few years surviving in the session wilderness but his determination didn’t wane. He shunned the major record labels and created his own, Rugged Ram Records, releasing his first single ‘You’d Better Believe’ to critical acclaim in 1994. The track was licensed to several compilations and used in films and television programmes, including The Bill and EastEnders.
He’s a frequent traveller to international jazz festivals which have included the main stage of The Montreal Jazz Festival, Vancouver Coastal Jazz Festival, Victoria Jazz Festival, Edmonton Jazz Festival in Canada, Umea Jazz Festival Sweden, Blueballs Music Festival Switzerland, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Leverkusen Jazz Festival, Silda Jazz Festival of Norway, and The Duke Ellington Jazz Festival at The Kennedy Centre in Washington.
He also appears at concert halls including venues such as the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the UK.
His latest album, Seven Shades Darker, is his seventh and is due for release around the world over the next few weeks. It includes some phenomenal brass arrangements by Dennis Mackrel – just recently appointed director of the Count Basie Orchestra.
The album comprises performances from some of Britain's finest touring and session musicians who feature regularly with artists such as Tom Jones, Van Morrison, Yusef Islam and many others.
“I write with the heart of a folk song writer and I want my lyrics to be heard and read,” says Ola. “My lyrics tackle subjects as diverse as social issues and heartbreak. I write about things I care deeply about.
“With all that I do, whether writing, recording, performing or touring, I want to play a small role in raising awareness of the issues that trouble the world.”